Blade Runner, WikiSphere
Being of the late 80's generation, this is one of those films that was never posted on my list of must-sees of classic film. Casablanca--sure. The Godfather? Absolutely. After watching the film, clearly it deserved to be.
It should be right up there with the 80s classics: Back to the Future and The Breakfast Club (I always thought TBC was a terrible movie).
In any case, I'm certain of the fact that Blade Runner had meaning I didn't even begin to divulge on the first watch. I had some clear suspicions about the policeman, Gaff, who kept picking up Deckard on the street that he might be a replicant. I also got some very strong parallels between Roy Batty's search for "immortality" and man's own quest for the elixir of life, willing to travel long distances and ironically murder for the right.
I was also strangely moved by the murder scene as Roy kills his maker, Mr. Tyrell. The motivation comes straight from Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Roy's frustration at the impossibility of the extension of his life. I actually felt that this morality issue took away from the plot of the movie itself, creating a bit of an anticlimactic undertone as Roy simply makes the decision to forgive Deckard when faced with his own impending death. Doesn't make for the best blow-'em-up ending. I certainly expected a much more "yippee-kay-yay muther--" ending, but sometimes it's good to be disappointed theatrically. I did certainly appreciate Harrison Ford's acting. Especially at the end. Sometimes it's nice to see the hero being human.
In any case I also felt the movie was very Terminator-esque--perhaps one of the influences on James Cameron for the original?
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On another note, we did some presentations last week in another class and we had some research required. It made me reminisce to undergrad when research was a must every week. I remembered long-winded lectures about the evils of Wikipedia and the warnings against a "lazy generation."
But last week I again found that short of using the University's library servers and article searches, Wikipedia has to be the best source of sources on the internet. Who's to say the information is correct? But the bibliography at the bottom almost always points to relative, reputable sources. Most sites on all topics are just blatherings with no source information aside from the author's credentials.
We're so concerned about avoiding plagiarism that we forget there is value in making information free, condensed, and available without punishment for derivative work. What's the point in doing research if someone else can't utilize it for their own ends?
Anyway, just a small way to stick out my tongue at the academic establishment that is slow to evolve, I suppose.
It should be right up there with the 80s classics: Back to the Future and The Breakfast Club (I always thought TBC was a terrible movie).
In any case, I'm certain of the fact that Blade Runner had meaning I didn't even begin to divulge on the first watch. I had some clear suspicions about the policeman, Gaff, who kept picking up Deckard on the street that he might be a replicant. I also got some very strong parallels between Roy Batty's search for "immortality" and man's own quest for the elixir of life, willing to travel long distances and ironically murder for the right.
I was also strangely moved by the murder scene as Roy kills his maker, Mr. Tyrell. The motivation comes straight from Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Roy's frustration at the impossibility of the extension of his life. I actually felt that this morality issue took away from the plot of the movie itself, creating a bit of an anticlimactic undertone as Roy simply makes the decision to forgive Deckard when faced with his own impending death. Doesn't make for the best blow-'em-up ending. I certainly expected a much more "yippee-kay-yay muther--" ending, but sometimes it's good to be disappointed theatrically. I did certainly appreciate Harrison Ford's acting. Especially at the end. Sometimes it's nice to see the hero being human.
In any case I also felt the movie was very Terminator-esque--perhaps one of the influences on James Cameron for the original?
---------------------------
On another note, we did some presentations last week in another class and we had some research required. It made me reminisce to undergrad when research was a must every week. I remembered long-winded lectures about the evils of Wikipedia and the warnings against a "lazy generation."
But last week I again found that short of using the University's library servers and article searches, Wikipedia has to be the best source of sources on the internet. Who's to say the information is correct? But the bibliography at the bottom almost always points to relative, reputable sources. Most sites on all topics are just blatherings with no source information aside from the author's credentials.
We're so concerned about avoiding plagiarism that we forget there is value in making information free, condensed, and available without punishment for derivative work. What's the point in doing research if someone else can't utilize it for their own ends?
Anyway, just a small way to stick out my tongue at the academic establishment that is slow to evolve, I suppose.
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